$215 Million Lost At Queensland Pokies In Just A Month

The highest spend on record

The state of our gambling problem has been revealed, with stats showing Queenslanders have fed more than $215 million into pokie machines in a single month.

Fairfax media has crunched the numbers to find that in July, the state recorded the highest ever spend at the machines (since records began in 2004).

That kind of spend ends up an average of almost $300,000 every hour of every day.

Gold Coast pubs and clubs raked in the most cash (more than $30 million in July alone), followed by the Sunshine Coast, then Logan, Brisbane South and Ipswich.

Keep in mind, that's pokies alone. Queenslanders also lost more than $75 million at casinos, $7 million on Keno and $26 million on betting.

Dr Sally Gainsbury, a University of Sydney gambling researcher, says we all need to be aware of the tell tale signs of problem gambling.

"There are levels of gambling that are appropriate for entertainment purposes, gambling is a legal activity after all but it becomes concerning when people start to experience negative consequences, be criticised, start to gamble more than they can afford"